Category: Gadgets

The number of media files accessed and the method of access is aplenty. Users consume content from radio, play audio tracks, video tracks, stream audio and video tracks from third party source. As a result, the method to play these different formats and organizing these as playlists is getting increasingly complicated.

Sony Ericsson has applied for a patent on a technology that can make this organization of media easy. In its recent filing, the inventors write,

“According to a first aspect, this object is fulfilled by a wireless device, comprising a media player; a radio signal receiver system configured to receive media signals; a controller comprising a memory comprising a list of different media options, and a media scanner configured to scan the radio signal receiver system to detect media content associated with the media options.

In one embodiment the wireless device comprises a user interface, wherein the controller is configured to output an alert signal through the user interface to indicate that media content associated with the media options list has been detected by the media scanner.

In one embodiment the media options includes a plurality of different media channels, the device comprising a user interface including a display operable to present a list of media channels, wherein the controller is configured to highlight a media channel on the display responsive to the media scanner detecting reception of that media channel.”

Microsoft may be working to redesign the hardware of its popular gaming console, Xbox 360. Images that have been doing the rounds lately on the Chinese web show the motherboard of the upcoming Xbox 360 that has a relatively smaller motherboard and one which combines computer and graphics processors on a single chip. Also, the chip replaces Microsoft’s proprietary hard drive port with a SATA interface port.

Wait, there is every reason to be sceptical about this whole thing. However, as Kotaku notes,

“Now, considering the source, there’s every reason to be sceptical of the images, and the info. Then again, with Natal due later this year, rebooting the 360 itself to go along with it would make a lot of sense, especially if a reduction in size could come with a reduction incost.”

Folks at CrunchGear are reporting possible leak of prices of Macs in the future. The prices that CrunchGear reports from an Australian website : A$2,399 for a MacBook Air, A$4,499 for Mac Pro and A$1,899 for MacBook Pro Family are on the higher side indicating possible upgrades to these products in the near future.

That being said, we are not able to verify the veracity of these reports and hence would suggest to take these rumors with a grain of salt. CrunchGear writes

“But as far as this pricing rumor goes, apparently it lists prices above the current ones. It comes from an Australian source, which apparently inflates the pricing over the US-set MSRP, though. But maybe it’s just because instead of being competitive with PCs for once, Apple tacked on the customary tax on new hardware.”

Acording to a story published on the New York Times, Google is working on developing an Atom powered set-top box that will could introduce us to a “Google TV” platform. According to the sources, Google may be opening the platform for third party developers to bring add-on plugins, much in the same way as third party apps are available on the Android marketplace.

Intel is assumed to be powering the devices while Sony is set to be developing the set top boxes. The report claims Logitech to be working on a compatible remote control for the platform.

Manufacturers jumping in on the tablet bandwagon is no longer news and it is a surprise that a popular manufacturer like Samsung didn’t have plans already. Anyway, we have now heard that the company is working on a tablet PC that will launch in the second half of this year.

This revelation was made by Philip Newton, the director of Samsung Australia’s IT division in a recent interview where he claimed that the tablet device will have “PC-grade processing power and connectivity” that will make up for the iPad’s shortcomings.

There were a lot of speculations prior to the announcement of iPad’s launch date that the device could see some delay owing to shortage of component supplies for OEMs. While that rumor was soon scoffed at thanks to Apple’s announcement of an April 3 launch date, it now appears that the rumors were not totally unfounded.

Folks at 9to5Mac note that the launch date of several iPad accessories have been silently deferred possibly due to the reported shortage in component among the OEMs. 9to5Mac writes,

“Over the past few days, Apple has altered some of the shipping times on their branded iPad accessories. First we noticed the iPad case making a slight shift from April 3rd to Mid-April. Today we notice Apple has delayed the iPad Keyboard Dock. The product was originally set to ship to customers in late-April but now the Apple store has placed the shipping time for sometime in May.”

So if you were eagerly looking to replace your desktop with an iPad, well you have to wait longer than you could have anticipated.

Is Dell partnering with Amazon to bring Kindle to its slate users? Folks at Android Community speculate if the upcoming Dell Mini 5, also known as Dell Streak could come pre-installed with Amazon Kindle. This comes after promo pictures of Dell Streak had “Kindle Book Reader Applications” listed among the apps supported.

Apart from the Kindle app, Dell Streak also inherently supports Amazon MP3, Amazon video streams and Amazon store. My view point is that while this can definitely help Amazon reach out to an extended user base, the mere presence of a Kindle Store on Dell Streak is alone not sufficient for the company to grab a higher market share. A Kindle application is not a unique offering as iPad’s iBookstore.

Will we get to see Microsoft Xbox 360 games coming to the iPhone? Rumors are that we might actually get to see it happening soon; though Microsoft shall not be the protagonist in this story.

Novell, the Massachusetts based software services corporation is expected to unveil its technology that will make it possible for developers to port their Xbox 360 games to the iPhone and possibly, also the Android handsets.

If this happens, then it could be a major setback to Microsoft that has been known to be banking on portablity of Xbox 360 to its upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform as a viable selling proposition for this mobile OS that is expected to launch in smartphones later this year.

Looks like an open sourced OS alone may not make Google Chrome OS based netbooks cheap and affordable like the MS Windows counterparts. Folks at Netbook Choice write that the netbook being envisioned by the Big G is expected to come with a lot of high end features including high resolution displays, 64GB SSD, integrated 3G modem etc. that purchasing a Windows netbook may work out to be cheaper.

While paying for a higher end device is a no-brainer, it needs to be noted that the platform does not support many ubiquitous software including Microsoft Office which means that you may be buying a higher end device that can actually do lesser.

However, support for software as this is expected to roll out as Chrome OS proliferates which will nevertheless take some time.

Business Insider has confirmed that a new model of flip camcorders from the stables of Cisco is on its way and it shall launch during the 2010 NAB show scheduled to be held between April 10th and 15th.

Details about the flip camcorder are pretty slim at the moment, but from what we are guessing, it might support 1080p. Dan Rayburn from StreamingMedia has promised to reveal more specs about the device when he is able to get hold of a device…which we assume is going to happen soon.